Music Video: 1st Draft

This is my first draft of my music video. It is not entirely finished yet but this first draft, created using Adobe Premiere gives me a good idea of timing of footage and narrative. The biggest issue with this video is definetely the timing - the song is shorter than I had first expected, and the rise in the chorus part is difficult to match the visuals to, but that is something to work on during the next draft. I would like to do several drafts in order to show you the progress I am making but also for myself to see what I need to do next. The aims for the next draft is to cut down the crying scene of Marcus, include more footage of Beth at the piano and sort out the lip synching as in places it is not quite right.

Visual Progression #1

This is a visual progression post just to let you see how the editing work is going. I am using Adobe Premiere CS6 to put my music video together, and I have almost finished the first draft. Trouble that I've had with Premiere is that it does have a tendency to crash, so if I have not saved work, I will have lost it. Also, it can be difficult to merge audio together. Advantages of using Premiere is that is it fairly easy to use the cutting tools to cut the video, and easy to copy and paste footage. As well as this, the effects and filters in Premiere CS6 are very varied and so allow me plenty to play with. The tools and effects that I have used the most is the Razor Tool, Track Select Tool, Dip to Black, Cross Dissolve, Constant Power, Exponential Fade, and the Black and White Tool. As this is just the first draft I will leave the colour levels etc for the second draft.

Marcus and William footage (rough edit)

 

This is some of the footage I got of my couple William (left) and Marcus (right). I wanted their story to be formed from a classic setting i.e. the falling of the books, looking into each other's eyes, falling in love convention. What some might notice as well is that I tried to make a connection with the two boys by having them both reading the same book - Virgil's 'The Aeneid' (this just happened to be the only book I had two copies of at the same time but actually it worked out well as it's a classic war/love story and fits in with the story). This is just a play around video, the actual video will consist of footage from Beth and Adam too. Also the tear video at the end is going to be reversed, so it looks like the tear is withdrawing back into his eye, however I can't do this on Windows Live Movie Maker, so it will have to wait till I am back in school to use Premiere Pro.

On Location: Grandma's House

Grandma's House from Sophie Boston on Vimeo.

Channels/Festivals

Music Festivals

Music festivals are very popular and a great way to promote yourself and your music. Thousands of music fans flock every year to see their idols perform on stage, camp out in muddy fields, and dress in a somewhat conventional style according to the festival they are attending. Music festivals are also a great way to raise your popularity - if you're not that well known but you have the opportunity to become a support act and get up on stage, then there's your chance to raise your status and reputation.

1. Lovebox Festival

Lovebox is a summer festivals, usually around July time. It's typically held in traditional areas in London and most commonly in one of London's many parks. 65,000 fans come for the variety of music styles including folk, hip hop, indie, disco-punk, rock, world or electronic music. Lovebox has been running since 2005 and has had artists such as Katy B, Chase and Status, Sub Focus, Duke Dumont and Route 94 headlining the festival as well as many upcoming artists. Tickets are ranging from £70+ and there is an minimum age of 16 (which must be accompanied by an adult.)

Reviews from 2014 are below:
General rating: 4/5 stars.

"The atmosphere at LOVEBOX was AMAZING. Seeing all the acts I love being with my friends was AMAZING. If the line -up is good next year, YOU SHOULD GO!"

"Been to Lovebox a few times now and it has changed quite dramatically in recent years. This year (2014) seemed to be the busiest yet and a very very young crowd compared to previous years. Chase & Status were by far the best on the Friday. But the Manor stage had really poor sound."

"All the acts this year were amazing and definitely worked up the crowd. Everyone was dancing and singing along to every act. It was music that brought people together. The acts ranged from Annie Mac , Joey Bada$$ ,A$ap Rocky and Ettta Bond. I seriously wish I could relive the moment all over again!"

 

 

2. The Isle of Wight Festival

The original Isle of Wight Festivals were landmark moments for their time - they sit alongside Glastonbury and Woodstock in festival history.

The first Isle of Wight festival took place on 31st August - 1st September 1968 and featured the likes of T- Rex and Fairport Convention. The 1970 Isle of Wight festival was a five day marathon featuring The Doors, Hawkwind and Joan Baez. Jimi Hendrix also played at the festival in 1970 just weeks before his death.

As the festival is situated on the Isle of Wight, it makes it one of the easiest festivals to get to, with 6 areas on the Isle to sail into. This is particularly useful for the targeted age group of 17+ who are studying at Southampton, Southampton Solent and Portsmouth University and any of the surrounding areas.

Tickets range from £125-195, so it's pretty expensive and this may be a disadvantage of the festival as even a student ticket is £160.
The 2014 line up included acts such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Newman, The 1975, Calvin Harris, Biffy Clyro, Rudimental, Tom Odell and Kings of Leon.

Isle of Wight Festival Reviews:
Average rating 3.5 stars

Telegraph: "Energetic and breathtaking."

"The weekend was great. A good variery of acts. Biffy Clyro and Passenger were particularly amazing. Well worth the cost for the weekend :) and being pretty much as far south in Britain as you can get always helps as there was amazing weather !"

"Absolutely Fantastic festival, can't fault content, stalls, fantastic time, people lovely. Apart from the transport which was abysmal and could have spoilt our weekend if the music hadn't been so greatl! and that's an understatement."

 

Music Channels

 

Music channels are another popular way to promote yourself an as artist. Music Channels focus on relaying music videos from artists and will typically host their own awards and charts. This also extends out to radio stations which converge with other platforms to create music charts e.g. Vodafone's Top 40 UK.

 

 

1. MTV

MTV is an American company which is based in Los Angeles and is a subsidiary company of Viacom Inc. MTV began 1981, and originally its role was to play music videos suggested by television personalities. At the time, MTV's target audience was just young adults, but today it has expanded to not just young adults, but older and younger generations as well.



The original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer (CEO) of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, on New York City television station WNBC in the late 1970s.

MTV's effect was immediate in areas where the new music video channel was carried. Within a couple of months, record stores in areas where MTV was available were selling music that local radio stations were not playing, such as Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow and the Human League. MTV sparked the Second British Invasion, with British acts, who had been accustomed to using music videos for half a decade, featuring heavily on the channel.

The channel received many complaints about the controversial situations that appeared on many of its videos and so MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove references to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia or advertising. Many music videos aired on the channel were censored, moved to late night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

 2. 4Music

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the UK and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland. It is owned by Box Television, and has many sister channels including Channel 4, Film 4, Magic, Kiss and E4.

4Music also owns many programs, some of the most popular being UKHot40, 4Music Big Ones, The 4Music Buzz Chart and Today's 4Music Top 10.

4Music began in 2008, on the 15th August. The channel launched with an on-screen countdown counting down from ten minutes down to zero. During the countdown, clips from popular music videos were faded through the screen including clips from promotions for the channel. The channel then launched at 7pm with a promotional advert for the channel then fading into "Davina and Steve's 20 Big Ones"; the first song at number 20 being "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters and Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" at Number 1.

4Music has coverage at both V Festival and T4 On The Beach during the summer, with highlights repeated frequently throughout the Summer. The channel also has stages at both events. At T4 on the Beach since 2007 (renamed the "T4 and 4Music Stage" in 2010) and at the V Festival since 2005 (then known as the "Channel 4 Stage", renamed to the "4Music Stage" in 2008). Sadly, T4 on the Beach ended after T4 closed down on 30 December 2012.
 

 

 

 

Personnel Details

Personnel Details

Risk Assessment

Equipment List

Equipment List

Production Diary 9: Continuing research tasks and begin filming

This week I have again been very busy as not only am I coming close to finishing off the research tasks and most of the planning tasks, I am also planning and started shooting for my BFI short film, 'Title Unknown' - at this point. Today we actually started filming, and as I'm the cinematographer and it's from the point of a view, I essentially have to become the dog, so everything sorta relies on me, a very demanding and pressurising task! It was a long, tiring day however this experience has given me massive insight into what to do when preparing for my music video - I need to think about lighting, props, actors, call sheets etc - as with today you always need to expect the unexpected e.g. this morning was a bit of nightmare, as the calling time was 10am, the actors dropped out, the director's car broke down and the editor and supervisor were delayed by engineering problems, so in actual fact we didn't start till 11.10, which whilst may not seem like a lot, actually put us back an awful lot, especially as now at this time of year the light disappears very quickly - it was very handy that the producer noted the time of sunset so we knew what we had to work to.
As for research tasks, I have continued them and completed the following: Research into Artist, Research into Genre, and also the planning tasks of the Ancillary Task 1: The Magazine Advert. Researching to the artist gives me an idea of how exactly Gabrielle Aplin and her image are portrayed and to convey that over in my music video - how she moves, what emotions she shows whilst performing, clothes etc - I don't want to completely copy her but I did choose her and her song for a reason - because I admire her and want to portray her in my own way and style.
The Research into Genre task helped because it now lets me know what I should (and shouldn't) be including in my music video, the conventions of Indie Music. This is actually quite difficult because a lot of the time music genres overlap a lot and their conventions are similar.
And the Ancillary Task, of which I decided to create the magazine advert first, because I think this order will help me with the design of the digipak.  I created this magazine using the program Adobe InDesign as I have used it before and therefore won't waste time in teaching myself how to use it, and also I think it is the best suited program for the job. I based the design on previous students' work and also my own imagination. Overall it was actually very easy to do and the whole thing only took me about 30 minutes. I cannot do any further work until I have the image of the polaroid photos being set alight by the candle. I have put a Polaroid Camera (Impulse AF) on my Christmas List, so hopefully one will turn up on Christmas Day!

Here is a picture from shooting the short film for BFI to show me in action:

@EastsideLondon Never work with children or animals. Day 1 #bfifilmacademy Baby POV shot. pic.twitter.com/PtF38L3Ac2
— Bevan Walsh (@beanwalls) November 15, 2014

Equipment

Ancillary Task 1: Magazine Advert DRAFT

These are my drafts for the magazine. I have done two because I am undecided whether to add the floral borders or not. I created this magazine using the program Adobe InDesign as I have used it before and therefore won't waste time in teaching myself how to use it, and also I think it is the best suited program for the job. I based the design on previous students' work and also my own imagination. I quite like this first draft however I don't like the typography of the 'includes the hit singles' and the & sign below, so that is something that I will need to work on. I think I prefer the 1st design to the second, because I think the floral borders, whilst they fit in with the boho style of the video and artist, make the poster look too busy and draw the attention away from the information, however I'm glad I created both in order to get a sense of variety.
My colour scheme is black, white and gold, to again reflect the artist's sophisticated musical style. I also tried to keep in continuity with the shapes e.g. the lines to separate the text, and the basic shapes e.g. squares, and circles, to make it easier to read and more appealing to look at. An audience won't be interested if a poster is too complex.
Though I have used the program before, there was one tool that I had not come across before and it's thanks to our teacher that we now all can draw stars equally and more than one at one time. In order to do this, you select the Polygon Tool and whilst still holding the mouse down, pressing the Space Bar and then the arrow keys will allow you to change how many points and edges the Polygon has, and how many of them you want. A simple technique, but one that significantly will improve any rating as the stars will now look the same and professionally done, rather than trying to replicate an already existing one over and over, or even copy and pasting a previous one as it may not be perfectly in line with the other one.
   Overall, I am pleased with this first draft and shall continue to improve on it.

Call Sheets

Marcus and William

Adam and Beth

Actor Releases

Ancillary Task 1: Magazine Advert RESEARCH

Before going ahead and starting to create my magazine advert I decided to do a little bit of research and find out what it is that makes a really good magazine advert. I looked at various websites until I came across one that gave me a lot of good advice when thinking about design.

1. Understand Your Customer - the most crucial point.  If you don't know your audience, the psychographic, demographic etc, then you're probably going to create something entirely different from what they would be attracted to. The website suggested that I look into what media they would be more likely to use and to target them using these mediums.

2. Treat The Customer With Respect - they see so many adverts everywhere now, so don't do anything to annoy or irritate them in some way, and try and be original. The website advised:

Don't use false or outrageous claims. These may make a good headline and grab attention, but when you are discovered as a fraud, the resulting negative word of mouth will have the potential to destroy your brand.

Avoid clichés. These will cause the 'I've heard this before' reaction which will prevent any further message being absorbed.

Don't patronise your audience - they're smart and like to be treated that way.

Don't be aggressive in your style or techniques – this will only cause the audience to become.

3. Attracting Attention - the headline/masthead is the most important part of the whole article in a way, because it's the text that the audience will see first. It needs to sum up what the article is about, without telling the audience everything. The masthead/headline is like a movie trailer, whilst the article is the film itself. Though this point applies more to newspaper articles, some of the pointers below do have some impact on magazine adverts:

Make your audience feel:

• Intrigue
• Emotion
• Association
• Identify a problem
• Make a claim

4. And finally the other relevant point from the website was to make sure that the LAYOUT is appropriate and effective towards your audience. "People will make quick assumptions about your product and brand from the images you use in your adverts. Ensure the imagery used reflects your brand values - premium brands invest large sums of money grading and retouching images to ensure they give the right impression, but cheaper products can often get away with lower quality photography or video."

Moodboard

This is my visual moodboard for my music video 'The Power of Love' - unfortunately I was unable to find the exact song to match the visuals but I found a decent replacement which features the most prominent instrument, the piano, so you still get the gist of what I am trying to convey.

Filming and Editing Schedule

This is my editing and filming schedule for 2014-2015. This schedule depicts every stage of the filming and editing stage and this will definitely help me in terms of planning and time management. As I've already completed the July work, I am now looking toward the November and further months, however I can already sense that things are perhaps not all going to go to plan exactly as we all have mock exams etc, so this schedule may not be exact.

Floor Plan & Location Release/ Reece

Floor Plan

Location Recce